


It's not gay if it's for theater, right?

by Ash_and_Ember



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Squip, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, could be boyf riends, theater shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 09:04:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13163694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash_and_Ember/pseuds/Ash_and_Ember
Summary: Jeremy is usually comfortable on stage, but is an absolute wreck when he has to play the main romantic interest in the play. Luckily, he has a best friend who is more than willing to sacrifice his dignity to help him out.





	It's not gay if it's for theater, right?

The play was going smoothly save for one small problem. Jeremy, the male lead, turned into an awkward, blushing mess every time he was in a scene with a halfway romantic undertone. His lines were flat and expressionless, and his body language screamed discomfort. 

Jeremy knew Mr. Reyes and the rest of the cast were getting frustrated with him, but he couldn't help it. He had no real experience flirting with anyone, let alone kissing. Thankfully, they were still working on his abysmal delivery, and hadn’t yet tried adding the physical aspects. He had auditioned hoping to get a dramatic role like last year. He certainly didn’t sign up for being one of the most recognizable male leads from the past 200 years. 

They were doing a modernized version of Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were both poli-sci majors at the same college, but Elizabeth thought activism and community outreach was the best way to improve society, whereas Mr. Darcy thought being part of the government was the way to go. Despite sounding incredibly boring, it was actually an interesting story, and quite a lot of flirting over coffee and study sessions. 

Gone were the formal Regency era courtship rituals. No longer did they move in careful, cautious circles around each other, true intent disguised behind socially acceptable conversations. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy of the 21st century were a lot more forward. Fiery. Passionate. Gone were the chaste handshakes, chaperoned visits, and singular kiss after a year of courtship. Their relationship was tumultuous, but in the open. There were several times they kissed, but Jeremy couldn’t get out his lines leading up to it.

Michael watched the play come crashing down from backstage. Crew was as organized as they could be with limited jobs to do. They couldn’t start practicing set changes until the blocking for the actors was set, and they couldn’t learn that until they had the lines down. According to Mr. Reyes, they shouldn’t move around the stage until the words moved them from inside. 

Jeremy had all his lines memorized, but had no emotion behind them. He was the least compelling love interest to ever grace the stage. Mr. Darcy wasn’t supposed to be quite this expressionless and awkward. As Jeremy’s best friend, Michael couldn’t let himself sit by idly and watch him butcher everything. 

They went to Jeremy’s hose after rehearsal to play video games and do homework. Jeremy was, predictably, not in a good move.

“Michael, I’m hopeless,” he moaned, throwing himself dramatically onto a beanbag chair. “I just get so nervous around Christine. I don’t like her anymore, but my whole body goes into panic mode when I’m near her.”

Michael sat down in the chair next to him. He moved one of Jeremy’s arms off the beanbag and back towards his own torso. 

“You need to get out of your own head, buddy,” he said. “Can’t you just pretend to be someone else? Or pretend Christine is someone else?”

“I’ve been trying, but it’s not working. Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, which is a ridiculous name by the way. No wonder everyone just calls him Mr. Darcy. He switches personalities so quickly. He goes from socially awkward/holier-than-thou to charming flirt like that.” Jeremy snapped his fingers to emphasize his point. He picked up his controller, clearly done with the conversation. 

They played through the easier levels of Apocalypse of the Damned. They were trying to beat their previous play-through time. It was after they beaten the boss of level 3 when Michael got his idea.

“Rich!” he yelled in excitement.

Jeremy looked at him in confusion, controller dangling from one hand. “It’s rude to say another man’s name during video games.”

Michael laughed at that. “You will always be my player 2; I promise I haven’t been cheating on you. Well, I do have cheat codes for Link to the Past, and that’s how I keep doing so   
much better than you, but that’s the only kind of cheating I’ve been doing, I swear.”

“You asshole!” 

“Sorry,” he said with a shrug. “You need to be more like Rich, for the play.”

Jeremy’s face was a perfect picture of confusion. “Why?”

Michael jabbed at a button, returning the game to its home screen. He turned to face Jeremy. “Think about it,” he said. “Who do you know that no matter how ridiculous they act, everyone thinks they’re cool? Who can make cheesy pickup lines actually work, and do everything without self-consciousness? Rich Goranski, that’s who.” 

Jeremy looked halfway between skeptical and convinced. “He does have a strong personality…” he said hesitantly. 

“Exactly,” Michael cried, flailing his arms around in excitement, knocking his glasses off his face in the process. He picked them up, enthusiasm slightly diminished. “When you need to be a more flirtatious Mr. Darcy, just act like Rich!”

“I guess that could work. I’ll try it at rehearsal tomorrow if Mr. Reyes hasn’t replaced me by then.”

“Why wait? Try it now. I’ll be your dear Ms. Elizabeth.” Michael tilted his head to the side and fluttered his eyes dramatically. 

Jeremy sighed and looked embarrassed, but didn’t say no. “If we’re going to do this, you have to stand up. I can’t do this if you’re lounging across the bean bag chairs like some Greek god.”

They stood up and faced each other, standing awkwardly. Jeremy took a breath and very quickly said, “Myfeelingswillnotberepressed. YoumustallowmetotellyouhowardentlyIadmireandloveyou.”

Michael stared blankly for a second, then burst out laughing. “Congratulations, you got worse, somehow. Speaking with confidence does not mean speaking several times faster than normal. Come on, seduce me!” He threw his arms out wide and stared at Jeremy, who was now blushing furiously. 

“Uh, okay,” Jeremy said. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. As Michael watched, he could see his body language change. He held himself differently. When he opened his eyes, there was a new gleam there. This time, when he spoke, it was understandable. He emphasized certain words, growing in intensity until reaching the peak at ‘love you!’ His voice held storm and thunder. Passion and raw emotion dripped from every syllable. 

Silence reigned in the basement. Jeremy looked away, suddenly shy. Michael too looked away, unable to face the intensity in Jeremy’s eyes. 

Michael was the first to break the silence, before it got uncomfortable. “Do that at rehearsal, and Mr. Reyes will never doubt that he made the right casting choice.”

Jeremy looked up. “You really think it was okay?” Disbelief and self-doubt were still in his voice. 

“Okay? That was amazing!” Michael enthused. 

“Thanks,” He said with a smile. “That really helped. We should get started on homework now; I have a math test later this week.”

Mr. Reyes didn’t have high hopes going into rehearsal. Jeremy almost seemed to be getting worse the harder he tried. He couldn’t cancel the show or recast, but he’d need a lot more Hot Pockets if things didn’t change in a major way.

To his great surprise, Jeremy seemed like a new person. He didn’t stumble over any lines, and actually had emotion. Mr. Reyes had them read through all the scenes between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. He thought maybe it was a fluke, but it wasn’t. Jeremy conveyed the changes of moods and mannerisms of his character as well as Mr. Reyes had ever seen.

“Excellent work, Mr. Heere,” he said at the end of rehearsal. “I didn’t know what happened between yesterday and today to cause this change, but you’re doing wonderfully! I think it’ll be safe to cancel rehearsal for the rest of the week. I want everyone off book for next week. We’re finally going to start seriously blocking! Mr. Mell, be prepared to take notes for crew. See you all next week!”

Rehearsals went a lot smoother without the lead falling apart every other scene. Michael and Jeremy made a pact to never tell Rich that he was the inspiration for Mr. Darcy. He would never let them live it down. He’d be insufferable. 

Michael was at every rehearsal now, taking notes for crew. What sets had to be there for each scene, how many large set pieces he could have without getting in the way of the actors, what the lighting would be like, and props. As such, he had a frontrow seat to the disaster that was The Kiss.

It was supposed to be the first kiss between Elizabeth and Darcy after a long night of studying. They had learned that even though their goals were different, their spirit and drive were the same. Jeremy and Christine worked well together on stage. Every look, movement, and word was building to this moment. Until everything fell apart. 

Christine leaned in to kiss him, and he froze. His arms hung uselessly by his side as hers came up to cup his cheeks. HIs face and neck turned a bright red only before seen in Crayola boxes. ‘Mortal embarrassment’ it was called. Every line of his body was tense and immobile. Even after Christine pulled away, he didn’t move. She touched him on the shoulder, and he lept into the air, up and backwards. Away from her. 

Mr. Reyes tried to help Jeremy, but the more advice he gave the worse he got. Eventually, Christine suggested they work on one of the ensemble scenes, and deal with this new problem at the next leads-only rehearsal. Jeremy disappeared for the rest of rehearsal. They were working on a scene with Elizabeth’s sorority family, so he wasn’t really needed anyways. That had officially been the worst moment of his life. 

“Jeremy Heere, what was that shameful display?” Michael asked him when they were in his bedroom after rehearsal. 

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’m trying to burn it from my memory.” Jeremy spoke into Michael’s bed, the pillow held over his head. 

“Your arms can’t stay by your side like limp noodles! You need to fix everything.” Michael stood over Jeremy, and inscrutable expression on his face. 

“How exactly am I supposed to ‘fix everything,’” he asked. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve never kissed anyone, on stage or off.”

“I’ll help you.”

“What?” Jeremy sat up, looking as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on his head. 

“I said I’ll help you,” Michael repeated. “You need to learn how to kiss, and make it look convincing. That’s not something you can learn from the Internet, or the ‘old essays/projects’ folder on your hard drive.” 

Jeremy blushed furiously. “That really is old school-work in the folder,” he muttered.

Michael gave him a disdainful look. “Sure. And I’m white.” He pulled Jeremy to his feet so they were facing each other. “Do you have a better idea?”

“No,” Jeremy said, staring at the floor and playing with the too long sleeves of his cardigan. “You did help me with my lines, so maybe this will work, too.”

“Glad to see you’re finally accepting my genius. “So when you kiss Christine for the first time, what’s it supposed to be like?”

“Uh, a kiss? Like, a regular one?”

“Oh boy,” Michael muttered under his breath. “What’s the emotion behind it? Why are you kissing her?”

Jeremy thought for a moment before answering. “Because we had a good conversation and connected in a real way,” he said finally. “For once, we’re speaking plainly to each other and getting along really well.”

“Okay, so you can’t be shy or hesitant when you go to kiss her. Your body language has to portray all those things you just said.”

“How?” Jeremy asked, sounding lost. 

“Like this.” Michael stepped forwards confidently. There was only a breath of space between their bodies. One hand rested on Jeremy’s lower back, the other pressed on his shoulders. His eyes met Jeremy’s without any hesitation or hint of fear. Jeremy’s arms still hung uselessly by his side. Hesitantly, he brought his hands up to rest on Michael’s hips. 

“Is this better?” he asked, his breath ghosting across Michael’s lips.

“You’re still too cautious,” he replied. “I won’t break if you touch me.” The force on his hips increased an imperceptible amount. 

“Now what?”

“This.” Michael brought his head forwards, closing the tiny gap of space remaining between them. His lips were warm against Jeremy’s. They exerted a pressure that wasn’t overbearing, but couldn’t be ignored. Jeremy kissed back, still unsure of himself. Encouraged by Jeremy’s reciprocation, Michael kissed him with more intensity. He took Jeremy’s lower lip between his, causing Jeremy to gasp against his mouth. 

Michael pulled back, resting his forehead against Jeremy’s. Both were slightly out of breath. “Well, that was a significant improvement from---” He was cut off by Jeremy pulling him back towards him and crashing their mouths together again. All nervousness and caution was gone. Jeremy knew exactly what he wanted, and that was to kiss the boy in front of him senseless. 

There was no space at all between them now. One of Jeremy’s hands was in Michael’s hair. It was so thick, yet so soft. Part of him wondered how long he had wanted to run his fingers through his friend’s hair, but the rest of him told that part to shut up and keep doing it. He sat down on the bed, so that Michael was now taller than him, and standing in between his legs. 

They continued on with this for quite some time, until Jeremy broke away. His face was red, his hair thoroughly tousled, and he had a mark just above his collarbone that would be hard to explain. Michael pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

“Wow. Um, I think that’s a bit more than I’ll have to do with Christine,” he said.

Michael left out a small laugh. “At least it proved that are are capable of kissing someone.”

“And that you are a surprising good kisser yourself.”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “What can I say, I’m a man of many talents. If you can make out with me, I have no doubt you can manage to give Christine a 2 second stage kiss.”

Jeremy took Michael’s hand and held it in his own. “But maybe we should do this again sometime. You know, for practice.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, this happened. Jane Austen, I am so sorry. Comments and kudos appreciated!


End file.
